The role
The Field Engineering Lead serves as the on-site leader, responsible for rapid fault diagnosis and resolution of vehicle software and hardware issues to keep the fleet operational. They will oversee and support field engineers, ensuring a 5-minute response time and providing a fix to getting the vehicles back on the road as quickly as possible within reason depending on the issue at hand.
This role demands hands-on leadership, seamless coordination with global teams, and participation in an on-call rotation to provide 24/7 support across locations. As a key contributor to a new Fleet Operations function, the Field Engineering Lead will play a pivotal role in shaping processes and driving efficiency in a fast-paced environment.
Key responsibilities:
- Lead on-site fault triage and resolution, ensuring vehicle software and hardware issues are diagnosed and repaired swiftly to maintain fleet uptime.
- Collaborate - Work closely with Reliability Engineering team (and wider teams) to triage and mitigate new issues new features are added and new tools are created
- Develop and enforce structured processes for fault diagnosis, repair protocols, and operational workflows within the newly established Field Engineering function.
- Oversee and support field engineers, providing hands-on leadership, technical guidance, and ensuring seamless collaboration across global teams.
- Ensure rapid response and resolution, meeting the 15-minute issue response and one-hour repair SLA to keep vehicles operational.
- Manage global operational handovers, maintaining open communication with the Head of Field Engineering and ensuring smooth transitions across geographical locations.
- Coordinate on-call support and shift coverage, ensuring round-the-clock technical assistance and problem-solving across multiple regions.
- Uphold strict safety and compliance standards, ensuring all fault triage, diagnosis, and repairs follow the correct protocols and approvals.
- Continuously Improvement, identifying areas for improvement and optimizing field engineering support across all geographical locations.
About you
In order to set you up for success as a Field Engineering Lead at Wayve, we’re looking for the following skills and experience.
Essential
- Lead by example, inspiring and guiding a team of Field Engineers to efficiently triage, troubleshoot, and resolve hardware, software, and automotive system issues.
- Take full ownership of the field engineering function within their respective location, ensuring operational excellence.
- Strong knowledge of vehicle diagnostics, fault triage, and repair processes, with experience in fleet operations, automotive systems, or ADAS technology being a plus.
- Skilled in process development, resource allocation, and workflow efficiency to meet strict SLAs (5-minute response time, 90% vehicle uptime on average).
- Excellent ability to coordinate with global teams, provide clear technical guidance, and ensure seamless handovers between locations.
- Deep understanding of safety protocols, incident management, and strict adherence to operational procedures.
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced, evolving environment, including participation in on-call rotations and weekend coverage when required.
Desirable
- Background in Automotive, DevOps, or Infrastructure – Experience in vehicle systems, software deployment, or cloud-based monitoring is highly beneficial.
- Knowledge of ADAS and Autonomous Vehicle Technology – Familiarity with sensor systems, vehicle diagnostics, and real-world testing environments is a plus.
- Experience in System Troubleshooting and Optimization – Ability to diagnose and resolve issues across hardware, software, and networked vehicle systems efficiently.
This is a full-time role based in our office in Sunnyvale. At Wayve we want the best of all worlds so we operate a hybrid working policy that combines time together in our offices and workshops to fuel innovation, culture, relationships and learning, and time spent working from home.
